The ordinary method of cementation previously employed in the sinking of shafts proved to be totally useless in these conditions. As soon as the cement was applied to the sides of the shafts, it was washed out again by the pressure of the water.

The Francois system used a chemical process, wherein two chemical solution were employed. When mixed, the chemicals produced a gelatinous substance which effectively sealed the pores of the surrounding sandstone layers, allowing the application of the cement.

Pumps were used in the sumps at the bottoms of the shafts to remove any water which seeped into the shafts, and indeed, such pumps were still in use until last April 2004, when the electricity was switched off and the mine allowed to flood.

Unfortunately, despite never being used to wind coal, they were blown to bits and the shafts filled with debris less that twenty years later.

1921 and Onwards
By 1921 Hatfield Main was in full production. The nearby railway, canal and river outlets to the Humber, and the seemingly unlimited market for coal, offered a bright view of the future for the colliery owners.
From the day the pit opened and onward through the 1920's, a migrant workforce arrived in the Stainforth and Hatfield area.
By far the largest number of recruits came from the coalfields of Northumberland and Durham and for many years the villages around Hatfield abounded with more Geordie speakers than those with a Yorkshire dialect.
A second wave of migrants arrived in 1922, following the collapse of the 1921 strike and the subsequent victimisations in the coalfields further north.
The same happened again, following the strike of 1926, and then again during the great depression of the 1930's

Carlton Main Colliery Company
In January of 1927, the colliery was incorporated into Carlton Main Colliery Company, who had plans to extensively work the High Hazel seam.

They would then go through to the dirty end, where they had another locker containing their dirty work clothes. After finishing their shift, the men would then leave their dirty clothes in the same locker, before entering the showers. Then they would emerge bright and clean on the other side to re-dress in their ordinary clothing. Later, the baths office would sell their own brand of soap, which came in large blocks and stamped with "P.H.B.", and even later still, towels and other toiletries were available.

Hatfield Colliery's luckiest miner.
The luckiest miner ever to work at Hatfield was one of the early shaft examiners. His name was Fred Dunham and his unlucky mate on the fateful day in question was Harry Sutcliff. Both men slipped from the top of the cage and plummeted down the shaft. Harry was killed, but Fred managed to grab a hold of one of the guide ropes as he fell. He managed to slow his descent by wrapping his feet and legs around the guide rope and then lowered himself down hand over hand. He emerged into the pit bottom, hands bloody and torn but alive. The last I heard of Fred was in a newspaper article in the late 1980s. It said he was living in Australia, but could still remember every detail of that terrible day.

December 12, 1939
In the fortnight preceding Christmas of 1939, disaster struck at Hatfield Main.
One man died and over fifty were injured, when the cage taking men underground to start their shifts plummeted, to the bottom of the shaft. The other cage, carrying men to the surface, crashed into the headgear and became entangled in the steel rope and girders. Doncaster Royal Infirmary treated 58 men and boys for their injuries, most suffering from fractured limbs, though ten men and boys were subjected to amputations of their legs.
A verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest into the death of Daniel Horrigan, described as a stone worker of Arundel Street, Stainforth.
The jury at the inquest, held in The Guild Hall, French Gate, Doncaster, on Friday March 15, 1940, told the Coroner W.H. Carlile they were of the opinion that the safety devices did not cover a sufficient margin of error.
See Hatfield Colliery 1939 for more details and to listen to Steve Nesbitt, who was only 14 years old at the time of the incident.

Through the war years
During World War II, Prisoners of War found to have been coal miners in Germany, Poland or elsewhere, were drafted into the pits. A number of such prisoners were sent to Hatfield Main.
Italian P.O.W.s were also set to work on the coal barges at Stainforth canal.
After the war was over, ex-miners/prisoners and stateless persons, such as Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, Yugoslavians and Germans all found their way into the great fraternity of mining races and peoples.

From 1941 and until the end of the war, the colliery supported its own branch of the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV), who were known as Stainforth Company "B". To save the LDV having to travel to Cantley, to use the firing range there, a range was set up near the bottom of the pit tip behind the playing fields. This area also served for bayonet practice, with dummies filled with straw and hanging from a makeshift gallows being used as targets.

N.C.B.
In January of 1947, the colliery, like almost all coal mines across the country, was nationalised and became under the jurisdiction of the National Coal Board.